


20 Hours on Kadara

by QuixoticRogue



Category: Mass Effect: Andromeda
Genre: Gen, Mild Language, Road Trips, only off road and on foot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-19
Updated: 2017-07-19
Packaged: 2018-12-04 05:07:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,979
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11548104
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/QuixoticRogue/pseuds/QuixoticRogue
Summary: In which the Nomad is nicked, the squad squabbles and Ryder refuses to release a rock.





	20 Hours on Kadara

**Author's Note:**

> Had this kicking around on a laptop for a couple of months. Not quite happy with the back half but, hopefully, there's enjoyment to be had.

**1434 GST**

The Nomad was stolen.

_Stolen_. By criminals. Never to be seen again. One would think leaving a high-end, fresh off the assembly line, military-grade vehicle unattended on a planet filled with outlaws would be safe but, _apparently_ , that wasn't the case.

Scott Ryder kicked at a pebble, muttering all the cusses and curses his mind could reach as he and his squad made their way down the mountainside. The turian and asari following him kept their distance as he continued his tirade under his breath. Coming down the shallow incline to the base, he brought up his omni-tool, his fingers fumbling as they performed their dexterous task while trying to keep a grip on the heavy rock he held. He opened the map and sighed.

They were far from Kadara Port, far from the outpost and far from anything that resembled a forward station. From where they'd started on the map to where they were now, they'd barely moved a millimetre and they had the rest of the screen to travel. He swore again and closed his omni-tool.

Behind him, Vetra spoke, "You know, Ryder, we might be moving faster if you-"

"No."

"Ryder-"

"No."

"Scott."

"No. I'm not putting this titanium brick down. Not because you asked and not because it'll speed us up. You guys got the Nomad stolen-"

"I don't think now is a good to time to be pointing fingers," said Peebee.

"-and this hunk of metal is all we have to show for it so, no, I'm not putting it down." He waved the rock around as if to prove his point.

"What if we come across Outcasts or Collective?" asked Vetra. "You can't fire a rifle with one hand. Come on, just put it down and I'll buy a whole shipment when we get to the Port."

"No."

She sighed. "Ryder, you're being childish."

"I know I am!"

 

**1501 GST**

"Did you know I can do magic?"

Ryder turned to look at Peebee with bemused eyes but kept walking. "Can you conjure up another Nomad?" he drawled.

"I don't think you're having the right attitude for this conversation."

"This conversation about you doing magic? Who could have guessed?"

"See? There's that attitude again." She turned to the turian. "Vetra, give me your credit chit."

"No."

"Well, I can't ask Ryder for his."

"Try."

"Fine," she sighed. "Ryder?"

"No."

"See?"

"Use your own," said Vetra.

"It's not as impressive when I use my own."

"Really?"

"Yeah."

"Is the trick making it disappear?"

"Yeah."

"Then I wonder why."

"You know, I don't think your attitude is much better."

“Just keep walking.”

 

**1632 GST**

The trio had crossed three mountains and circumnavigated two acid lakes and Vetra's legs were beginning to burn. No one had spoken since Peebee's offer of arcane entertainment but at least their Pathfinder had stopped muttering to himself. He was still carrying that chunk of metal though.

After another hour of walking in silence, Peebee piped up. "Are still mad at us, Ryder?"

The human sighed. "No."

"Oh. That's good."

"I will say-"

Vetra rolled her eyes. "Oh, spirits, here we go."

"I _will_ say," he continued, "that I could have gone out, picked up the deposit and been back in a minute. Neither of you had to leave the Nomad to come with me."

"We'd been stuck in that thing for hours, Ryder," Vetra replied. "I wanted to stretch my legs."

"Well, there's nothing that stretches the legs more than a _one-hundred-klick hike_!

"Ryder, there's no reason to be petty."

"We're walking a hundred kilometres! Of course there is!" He stopped in his tracks, steadying his breath before turning to the asari. "And what's your excuse, Peebee?" he asked, apparently much calmer.

"I didn't want to be left alone there. What if bandits came?"

Vetra had to hold the enraged and kicking Pathfinder back.

"Hey, calm down, Ryder!"

"Come on," cried Peebee as she ran ahead of them. "It could be worse."

"How, Peebee?" he said, shaking off Vetra's arms from his shoulders.

"It could be raining."

Vetra felt the first drops on her head immediately after that.

"Peebee."

"Hey, blame me for the Nomad all you want, it's not my fault I'm the weather goddess of Kadara."

 

**1768 GST**

Ryder groaned as he collapsed against a boulder, sliding down it to meet welcomingly dry dirt. They'd eventually found a cave large enough to comfortably shelter in. They'd shirked their armour to their hardsuits, got a fire going quickly and huddled around it, fishing out somewhat damp rations.

Most of the food packs were stored in the Nomad with stashes to replenish in the forward stations. Absent both of those, the squad had had to deal with what they had on them: two levos, one dextro. Ryder and Vetra had split theirs in half to eat in the morning but Peebee had insisted on going to sleep on a full stomach and was currently resting with a whole meal in her belly.

Ryder closed his eyes and leant against the rock wall behind him, trying to will away the aches and pains of a day's walking. Footsteps made their way towards him and he heard the sigh as Vetra sat down beside him.

"When we get back to the _Tempest_ ," he said, "I'm having a hot, half-hour shower."

"You know that's going to be unpleasant after the first four minutes, right?"

"Not with Kallo's hacks it won't," Ryder murmured.

"What?"

His eyes opened immediately. "I probably shouldn't have said that."

"Is that why the heating hasn’t been lasting as long as it should?"

"Sorry."

Vetra scoffed. "You're an arsehole, Ryder."

"Please don't tell the others."

"That you're an arsehole? Pretty sure they know."

"About the heating, Vetra."

The turian nodded at him. "My lips are sealed."

"Thank you."

"But you owe me thirty-six minutes of hot water."

"Fine."

They sat there, watching the fire for a few seconds before Vetra asked, "Are there any more of these hacks?"

"Like what?"

She shrugged. "I don't know, like with the laundry or something."

Ryder shook his head. "No. Just the showers."

"Okay then."

 

**0550**

They left the cave with the sun already above the horizon, having donned now-dry armour. They were still miles from anything but now they could at least see the faint shape of Kadara Port in the distance.

The group had made it around another mountain when they heard the roar.

Ryder stopped in his tracks. "Shit."

"Is that…" Peebee.

"Eiroch." Vetra.

Slowly, carefully and quietly, they came down to the clearing and took cover behind boulders. Peering out, Ryder spotted the hulking creature feasting on a twitching rylkor. He ducked back behind cover.

"Maybe it won’t be hungry if we wait," suggested Peebee. Everyone knew that was unlikely.

"Now might be a good time to put down the rock," said Vetra.

"Fine." Ryder squatted and dug a small pit in the dirt, nesting the metal chunk in it. "But I'm not letting it leave my sight."

He readied his rifle.

 

**1062**

"I'm hungry," groaned Peebee.

Ryder rubbed his eyes. "We know, Peebee."

"But I _am_ hungry."

"We know."

"We warned you this would happen, Peebee."

"When?"

"In the cave. When you decided to eat the whole MRE."

"Yeah, well, I'm a biotic. We burn through calories faster. Ryder, if you were any sort of tactician, you would have let me eat yours."

Ryder sighed. They were all hungry. They were all tired. The battle with the eiroch had lessened the load (they had used and ditched a dozen heat sinks between them) but the weapons, the armour and, loath he was to admit it, Ryder's ore rock were beginning to burden them.

Kadara Port seemed no closer and the horizon was dominated by mountains to climb and ... smoke? From Vetra's change in pace beside him, Ryder guessed she saw it too.

"Shuttle crash?" she suggested.

There was a purple blur as their asari squad mate, with newfound energy, began racing towards the rising cloud.

"If there's food, I call dibs on it!"

Ryder and Vetra hurried after her, though at a significantly slower pace. They reached the site on the side of a hill. A pile of burning debris was nestled against the rock wall, metal shards spread around. It _was_ a crashed shuttle and Peebee _was_ trawling through the wreckage.

"Aha!"

The half-body was sticking out of the ground, legs pointed to the sky. It was a sight Ryder couldn't decide should be categorised as morbid or humorous but he didn't have much time to pick as Peebee started shaking it to root around the belt around the hips.

"Thermal clips, no. Hallex pills, no. Blasto comics, maybe. Food!"

Ryder rolled his eyes, turning to look at the body instead of Peebee stuffing her face. He was contemplating the force required to throw a person half into the ground, and then he counted the toes.

"Uh, Peebee, I'm pretty sure that guy's turian."

Orange gunk was immediately spat to the ground.

"Pah! Pah! Oh, that's gross. How do you eat this stuff, Vetra?"

"I'm supposed to eat it! That's why it's _turian_ food."

"Pah!"

 

**1411**

They'd slowed down even further now. Peebee's tongue had swollen to the point of ridiculousness and they were stopping every few minutes to let her hurl. The squad had come across more rylkor but luckily nothing more serious than that. They were down to a total of six heat sinks and Peebee was no longer able to create even the smallest biotic field. It was beginning to look like they wouldn't find a forward station until the next day.

Getting to the top of each hill was starting to feel like its own triumph. And then it was.

Looking down on the clearing below, Ryder was met by the most beautiful sight: A dozen heavily armed outlaws surrounding the ND1 Nomad.

With a loud groan, Peebee dropped to the ground, face buried in the dirt.

"I count twelve," said Vetra. "Do you think we can take them?"

Ryder shrugged. "Probably."

"Just leab them be," droned Peebee. "I'll jutht wait here and outlib them."

"I don't know, Peebee. I see a couple of asari down there."

"I'm young. I'll be fine."

"Come on," said Ryder, hauling her to her feet. "Let's get our ride back."

Charging down the hill, Ryder caught four with their shields down. Advancing with the metal chunk tucked under his arms, he chipped away at a pariah's shields before Vetra took her out with a headshot. Peebee put an entire pistol clip into a raider's shields and then another to his face. Vetra put her last shot into an explosive canister that took out three more. Ryder managed to shoot two raiders in one burst and used the rest of the magazine to take down the sharpshooter's shields.

He ejected the heat sink and reloaded. He took aim and-

The rifle jammed.

"Oh, for fuck's sake," he cried and he threw the rock of titanium into the sniper's skull.

The squad stood victorious, surrounded by dead outlaws and with their ride home now ahead of them.

And Peebee threw up.

 

Vetra gingerly climbed into the Nomad's passenger seat, not believing the luxury of the plush, leather upholstery beneath her. She sighed contently and wriggled into the ergonomic back support and cushioned armrests.

There was a soft moan behind her and she turned to see her asari squad mate curled up over two seats, clutching her stomach.

"Peebee, if you dare vomit..."

"I'm fine. It'th fine. I'm fine," she said, waving her arm to bat away any concerns.

Vetra turned back to the front, wondering why they hadn't driven off yet. "Are we going?" she asked. “Ryder?"

"Hang on," said the human, peering off at something glinting through the windscreen. "I think I see a titanium deposit."

**1434 GST**


End file.
